oculus rift

Despite thelimited enthusiasmwith which the mass market has so far accepted virtual reality and its viewers, Facebookdoes not seem to want to slow down, indeed: in the latest Oculus Connect (OC5) a new version of the viewer has been announced, intermediate between the mobile Oculs Go and the top of the range Oculus Rift.

Oculus Quest will cost 399 dollars

Oculus Quest, this is the name of the new viewer, will be available from spring 2019 at the price of $ 399 in America (the price and release date in Italy must still be announced), that is $ 50 less than the Rift plus the Touch controller. If Rift requires a wired connection to a PC, Quest will be without cables, even if this led to choose the Snapdragon 835 as Cpu.

50 games ready for the launch

Facebook promised that the contents available for the Rift will all have a “porting” on Quest and that at the time of launch will be available over 50 video game titles including some “best sellers” like Robo Recall, The Climb and Moss.

Among the new titles was announcedVader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series, which will be developed on three episodes (the first already available at the launch of the Quest) and which will tell a story “untold” from Star Wars series, which confirms itself among the most appreciated franchisees by companies engaged in the VR sector (as we already saw with Sansar).

A good compromise between Go and Rift

Compared to Oculus Go (currently on sale from 219 euros in Italy), Oculus Quest can be considered an enhanced version, since it preserves the design but uses a more versatile processor (Go uses the Snapdragon 821) and, ensuring the taking over of the user’s position in a space, is able to offer more satisfying immersive experiences.

How Htc will react?

In short: Oculus Quest fills a commercial void and could help expand the audience of virtual reality devices users. Now the competition moves are expected, starting fromHtc.

Last May 1stsaw the debut on the market of the awaited Oculus Go, the “standalone” (i.e. which does not require the use of connection cables to a PC or a smartphone to be used) virtual reality diplay of the company which is part of the Facebook group.

Affordable prices for Oculus Go

Since the device has a more than affordable cost (in Italy 219 eurs for the 32 GB memory version, 269 euros for the 64 GB one, in Usa prices starts from 199,99 dollars), using a QualcommSnapdragon 821 Cpu and a Lcd 5.5-inch display with WQHD (2.560×1.440 pixel) resolution, many have wondered if this devicecould represent a turning point for virtual reality. Well, despite the hopes in this regard and rather comforting estimates made by analysts likeSuperdata (that talked of 1.8 million units sold by year end), for now the sales do not seem so resounding, even if you surely can not say that Oculus Go is a failure.

Will Oculus Go hit sales estimates?

Based on the download progress of the Oculus Go app for Android (still in the “over 50 thousand downloads” class), also assuming a similar trend in the downloads of the Oculus Go app for iPhonethe number of Oculus Go soldit should be at most between 100 and 200 thousand units in the first month of sale. Assuming that the correct number is around 150 thousand units and that this figure remains constant until the Christmas season, this means that at the end of November about 1-1.1 million will have been sold in all and then or under Christmas, over half a million will be sold (about three times as much as sales these days) or the goal of 1.8 million sold by the end of the year will be largely missed.

Virtual reality is not yet a mass technology

This would be the umpteenth confirmationthat for now the technology of virtual realityit is still too sour to have a “mass” attraction, despite the efforts, including advertising, of large industrial groupsand web giants like Facebook, after that already others likeGooglehad to put similardreamsin the drawer for augmented reality.

October brings many news for Oculus Rift, subsidiary of Facebook committed to developing virtual reality devices. At Oculus Connect 4, a few days ago, in his opening speech Mark Zuckerberg revealed the first “standalone” VR headset, Oculus Go, which has clearly the ambition to make sure that app developers working on SamsungGear VR can tailor their offer also to the new Oculus Rift headset.

Oculus Go will cost 199 dollars

Oculus Go, by the way, will be de facto a mobile computer “all in one”, which means not just that it won’t need cables, but also smartphones in order to be able to work as a gaming peripheral.

Available from next year (official launch date hasn’t been revealed until now, but from November will start the early shipment of the developer kits), Oculus Go will cost only 199 dollars. If you want to start knowing this new headest, take a look at this video introduction.

With Oculus Go and the other devices which will be developed by Oculus Rift, Zuckerberg has set the goal of being able to virtually connect at least 1 billion users all around the world in the coming years, i.e. about half the number of Facebook monthly users.

But surprises have not ended up here: Santa Cruz controllers, whose prototype was presented last year, will be updated so to allow more natural and less restrictive movements.

Oculus Rift and Touch price drops

Last but not less interesting news, the cost of the “bundle” consisting of the Oculus Rift headset and two Touch controllers (besides two sensors and six free apps) was cut permanently to 399 dollars, i.e. 200 dollars less than the cost of rival Htc Vive VR.

This is not an absolute novelty, since already in the summer for six weeks the price of the “bundle” was cut to 399 dollars, after that, though, was upped again to 499 dollars. Now the summer promotional discount becomes permanent, in time to try to support Christmas salse, which will also see an updated and with a slightely revised design version of the SonyPlayStation VR.

Black Friday, November’s last Friday which traditionally opens the Chrismas shopping season in the Usa, is coming and brings discounts and deals even to virtual reality games fans, although prices the prices remain rather high, considering necessity to link viewers to top quality computers and consoles and to to equip them with controllers and cameras.

Htc Vive at $699 from Black Friday to Cyber Monday

Monday Htcannounced that from Friday 25th to Monday 28th October (Cyber Monday) virtual reality viewer Htc Vive will be $100 lowered, at $699 for everyone will buy it on the Htc online store or on online shops like that of Microsoft, Amazon and Newegg.

Plus, who will buy on Htc store 30 dollars or more of contents different from virtual reality games, will receive further $10 discount on additional purchase; lastly some VR apps like The Grand Canyon VR Experience (normally for sale at $4,99), Star Chart (normally for sale at $9,99) and World of Diving (normally for sale at $19,99), will be 50% off these four days.

Also Oculus $100 discounted for four days

Even for those who will buy an Oculus Rift VR viewer on the Microsoft online store there will be $100 discount, so the price in these four days will be just $499 insted $599.

The one who has withstood for now the temptation to offer Black Friday discounts is Sony: if you wanna buy a Playstation VR for Chrystmas you’ll have to spend 399,99 euros.

On the other hand the PlayStation VR bundle includes a demo disk, which offers the possibility to play first virtual reality games titles (Rigs Mechanized Combat League, PlayStation VR Worlds, Tumble VR, Driveclub VR, Battlezone, Eve: Valkyrie, Headmaster and Wayward Sky). If you were thinking about giving you or to make you give a VR viewer, maybe you should take profit of the deals valid from Black Friday to Cyber Monday.

If you wanna keep updated about any other news regarding virtual reality, virtual games, creativity and geek technologies, keep following Mondivirtuali.it, even through our account on Twitter and our fanpage on Facebook (but remember: Mondivirtuali is also on Flickr, on Pinterest, on Scoop.it, on Paper.li and also on Youtube). Share this article, you will help us to follow always better topics that you are interested in!

There is much talk of virtual reality, virtual worlds and second lives, but despite all efforts it seems that the pioneering phase of similar technologies is bound to last for some(many?) years. It is not just a technology problem, although we’re probably still at a stage comparable to that experienced at the time of theWright bros compared to current commercial jets, or as the first “mobile phone” seen in the eighties compared to modernsmartphones.

The real problem is that the mass is too committed to improving its first life, its reality, to heal more than casually virtual. As long as in emerging countries the income will be a fraction of that in developed countries, andso long asin these last people will have the fear of losing their standard of living due to the economiccrisis, to work that is hard to find (especially if you are young and you live in the countries of southern Europe such as Spain, GreeceorItaly), to migrants emergency, enthusiasm and be able to devote to the virtual reality will be in marketniches.

Virtual reality: the problem of compelling contents

The problem is that as long as it will be niche markets, there will be nocontent that’s compelling,which involvehigh costs andare justified onlyby the possibility of being enjoyed by millions of users. But without really interesting contents once exhaustedthe mediahypenumberswill risk to remain modest ashave always remainedin the case ofplatforms such asSecond Life, that beyond twelve years since the launch is not able to stably attract even a million active users (despite having been tested at least once by more than 40 millionusers).

The solution for many appears to be address during the launch phase of the platforms and virtual reality devices to heavy gamers. But if you take a look at Reddit, the site by farmostpopular with this type of users (and not only them), while Gaming subreddit has over 9.8 million users, Oculus Riftdoes not reach the70 thousand, Htc Vive is just over19,000, PlayStation VR is around 2,700 users, SecondLifestops under2,600subscribers.

Palmer start to throw water on the fire

Do notbe a coincidence thatnow thatOculus Rift, Htc Vive e Sony PlayStation VRgave awaytopre-ordersPalmer Luckey, the “lucky boy” founder of Oculus Rift who was able to be bought for $ 2 billion fromFacebook, hasstarted to throw water on the fire, explaining that it will take years before devices for VRcan become a mass market, that the same GoPro took five years and two models before being able to sellmore than1 million pieces. Before you have in your pocket or wearing a virtual reality device as we do today with smartphones will need to do a lot of education,proposingcontents, use, usermodes that can be interestingand useful in everydaylife,not just beautiful.

I would haveliked to explainin the interesting meeting in RL / SL mode that Marina Bellini (aka Mexi Lane in Second Life) held at theBic Lazio last week, unfortunately the audio betrayed me, will be for thenext time. There will ultimately be a lot to talk about on Mondivirtuali.it, so if you want to know how it will end, stay tuned even through our account on Twitter and our fanpage on Facebook (but remember: Mondivirtuali is also on Flickr, on Pinterest, on Scoop.it, on Paper.li and on Youtube).

It is Google Cardboard, just aviewerthat couldbe obtained from asheet of cardboardcut and folded (if you preferan already finished productin amore durable materialsuch as plasticyou canopt fortheSamsung Gear), thatthanks to the useof twobifocal lenses, oftwo magnets, a rubber bandand somestrips of Velcroallows youhousingonyoursmartphone, withthe appropriateapp, anduse it as a very cheapvirtual realityviewer(less of 20 euros for Google Cardboard, Samsung Gear currentlyis given for freeto those who buythe new Samsung6).

Sincehigh performanceviewersasOculus Rift will costat least initiallyseveral hundredeuros, the factthat the GoogleCardboardnumbersarealreadyimpressiveis not surprising: in a yearand a halfhave been shippedover 5million devices, branded Google as well as Visa, Lowe’s, SyFy Channel, The New York Times, Star Wars and much more. The correspondingapp has been downloaded 25 million times from Google Play, with 10 million downloads just from November to December.

From horror videogame A Chair in a Room (themost downloadedthird party app) to Vrse (allowing you to seea series of“short” inVRcreatedin collaborationwithpublisherssuch as The NewYorkTimesandNBC), from VR Roller Coaster to Jurassic VR, there are so manyappsthatyou canalreadyuse. And ifyou useregularlyYoutubebe aware thathave already been uploadedmore than350,000 hoursoffootage at360degreesthatcan be viewed,if you wearCardboardGoogleorSamsungGear, simplyturning your headand…looking around.

As announced, Oculus Rift opened January 6, during Ces 2016 its pre-orders of the first consumer release of its 3D viewers, but at a pricemuch higher thantheexpected350-400dollars: 599 dollars (although they include twogames: Eve Valkyrie and Lucky’s Tale), to whichyourisk having toaddat least other 949 dollarsto have acomputer able to take full advantage ofthe3Dviewers, whichmoreoverideally should be usedwithtouchcontrollersandad hoc headphones.

Now: 1,548 dollars or more mayseem like arelatively modest investmentif you thinkthatafter 12 yearsLindenLabcanstilldraw$ 195per month forthose who rentan entiresiminSecond Life (look at the pricing), which means, been eightmonths sincebeenpay youasimon the virtual worldof theCalifornian company, you will beginto havespent more moneythanthattobuy yourself3Dviewersandbrand new computer.

But high costswereone of the causes, if not the main reason of Second Life fiasco at leastasmass productwhichitseemed to want toandbe able to becomethefirst years of lifeand that insteadit never became, remaining a platform fora niche, albeitwide and rich, particularly creativeof usersaround the world.

To reinforcethisimpression, that the dayafter the announcementhasalreadycaused thedecline in stock pricesofFacebook, Oculus Rift parent company, is the factthatcontrary to the expectationsSonyhas not taken advantageofCes2016 tolaunchthepre–orders of itsPlaystation VR, whose launchisconfirmedfor now “in the first half of 2016” (meanwhile shipping of first Oculus Rift in the 20 initial launch countriesincludingItalyhas alreadybeen postponedfrom March to June).

The situation in thefield ofvirtual realityseemsthereforeat a critical turning point: expectationshave grownboth byapplication developersandcontentproviders and users, now companieswill have tomake decisionson which it dependshow bigthemarketwill beand howlargeand vitalwillbethecompetition. Ifyou want to seehow it turns out, continue to followMondivirtuali.it, even through our account on Twitter and our fanpage on Facebook (but remember: Mondivirtuali is also on Flickr, on Pinterest, on Scoop.it, on Paper.li and also on Youtube).

Palmer Luckey, Oculus VR founder, recently expressed his doubts about the real interest of Second Life and virtual worlds users regarding virtual reality, but now Edwin Catmull, president and co-founder of Pixar Animation, seems tothink the sameof virtual realityandanimation movies.

Acuriously similarreasoningis now being appliedby Ed Catmull (who was also one of the software architect of RenderMan) to the idea, carried outby the sameLuckey, that virtual realitycanhave big implicationsfortheanimation movies.

Virtual reality won’t be a revolution in storytelling

According to the Pixar Animation guru, who recentlytook part in theDublinWebSummitconference (asthe OculusVRfounderanddozens ofother speakers, find the listhere), virtual realitywould bethat revolutioninstorytellingthat they would likeher “evangelists” (as Luckey himself).

In an interview to the Guardian Catmull also statedthat hisprudencepresenton the real possibilitiesofvirtual realitydoes not meanthatthis technologycan not havean outlet forart, but that, for now, the most promising sector seems thatof gaming, an art formin itselfbut this is notthe same as alinear narrativelikecinema.

“Linear narrative is an artfully-directed telling of a story, where the lighting and the sound is all for a very clear purpose. You’re not just wandering around in the world”; people have been talking about virtual reality for 40 years.

There have been experiments around of people trying to do that, and always excited about it, added Pixar Animation president, who think that with Oculus is notmuch different: “all that the new virtual-reality stuff did was they removed the time-lag, because it was the time-lag that made you feel that you weren’t in the environmen”. Agood step forward,butcertainlynota revolutionin narrative terms.

Changing technolgy doesn’t change the game

“The fact that you’ve changed the technology, and people are excited about it, doesn’t change the underlying difficulty of the compelling narrative story. Just like books aren’t the same things as movies. They don’t have to be”.

I knowthere’s talk of it, added Catmull, “but I don’t think it (the ability totell a storysocompelling, ed) is actually based on our way of connecting with each other. Having said that, I think they should keep running the experiments. But the fact that we should run the experiments and the fact that the technology has changed doesn’t mean that it’s going to end up where they (virtual reality evangelists) think it is”.

Animportantopinion, thatcomes from Catmull’slong careerin the fieldof computer graphicsandanimation. Ifyou want to knowhow it will endas far asvirtual realityand itsuses, evenwithin thenarrativeandcinematic, you just have to continue to follow Mondivirtuali.it, even through our account on Twitter and our fanpage on Facebook (but remember: Mondivirtuali is also on Flickr, on Pinterest, on Scoop.it, on Paper.li and also on Youtube).

Virtual reality: in theoryitinteresting toalland announcementsof theupcoming launchofnew VR versions for gamesandvirtual worldsalreadyon the marketfor years hasbeen wasted. Butsomething is not rightyet: first of allhave not yet beenmade officiallaunch datesof the various3Dviewers, even if Oculus Riftshould launch itsdevicein the firstquarter of2016, then alsothe cost is notyet determinedwith certainty, howevera first indicationtalks of “not less than 350 dollars” for the consumer version of Oculus Rift.

Considering thatto thecostof the displaywill beaddedthe possiblehand controlleranda computeror at leastasuitable graphics card, total cost could be between 500 and 1,000 dollars so you can experiencethevirtual reality experiencefrom the comfort ofyour living room. Not much money, butneithermodest, sowill have tobeenough contenttojustifythepurchase decision.

This was announceda few daysagoatOculus Connect 2 by Microsoft, which last year boughtMojang (the producer of Minecraft) and decided to resume the projectof developingaVR edition of the famouscubesgameafter than Markus “Notch” Persson (founder and Ceo of Mojang) prefered to stop the project because of the Oculus Rift acquisition by Facebook.

For the momentbeing able to beplayedin virtual realitywill beMinecraft Windows 10 Editionthat is, therelease for PCthat use thenew operating system fromMicrosoft, butsince70million of the more than100 millioncopies soldrelating tothePC version, it might be agood starting point.

Sofor now it seemsthat manywill continue totalk aboutvirtual reality, even among Minecraftenthusiasts, butnotnecessarilyimmediate purchasestofollowwords. Ifyou want to knowhow it will end, continue to followMondivirtuali.it, even through our account on Twitter and our fanpage on Facebook (but remember: Mondivirtuali is also on Flickr, on Pinterest, on Scoop.it e su Paper.li and also on Youtube).

It is a Copernican revolutionthat in the comingyearswillhave an effectin many sectors, withtheever increasing spreadof virtual reality 3D content, althoughsome worry thattheexcessive spreadof these technologiesmayend upmaking us all slaves.

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